Tea
by AwesomeDragons
Summary: Avallac'h and Ciri have tea and discuss ancient history. Originally meant for It's not forgetting that heals - fanfic as chapter 2. Hint of Avallac'h/Ciri.


_My feelings with this pairing is very Harry Potter - after all this time? Always._

_This was originally meant for chapter two of It's not forgetting that heals and now years later I found this on my computer and think that it was shame that this was left unpublished. I was really into witcher lore, I still am, so I did a lot of research for this one. So with the netflix series, I fell straight into that bottomless pit again. And I'm loving it._

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"Avallac'h?"

He turned from the boiling water he had been dividing into two cups.

"When I ran from Eredin in Tir ná Lia", her face was troubled "we came across a massive graveyard."

His expression did not change. He knew what she was going to ask, and why she did. She had undoubtedly thought about this a long time but waited until the urge was invincible. He was honoured, because she wouldn't risk his aid with uncomfortable and possibly deal-breaking questions, if she wasn't sure they'd overcome them. And even if she wouldn't like the answer, she'd deal with it.

"There were bones. Human bones."

He was tempted to end her question for her but returned to his tea-task. It wasn't so much that he wouldn't know what to say, but more that she should try and find the words herself.

"Did you kill all of those humans?"

He added petals of a flower, very similar to celandine, to their cups. Even thought it was a vulgar habit, he had to make do with what he had. In the world of Aen Elle, his home, there were twenty better plants to one spice their tea with. And now he had to drink water with weeds in it. The tea turned yellow-ish. So uncivilized.

She made her way to sit in front of him, with the fire they had risked making, cracking between them. He offered her the other cup. She didn't push the question further. For the last couple of weeks, the main thing keeping their polite conversation together and atmosphere light, was patience. And she was getting remarkably good at it. He was proud. His response was short.

"Yes."

Her expression was a mix of devastation and anger. During their journey she probably had rested her hopes on an idea, that he was somehow innocent in all of that.

"Do you wish to hear the whole story?"

Her voice was harsher than he'd hoped for.

"I guess I don't have a choice in the matter."

And he started explaining.

"From the Conjunction of the Spheres, we have been jumping from one world to another, to find a place which we could once again call our home. We did find a planet. A beautiful one. But as we came to realize, Zireael, we weren't the only habitats."

He took a sip of his tea. Her eyes were sharp and attentive as she warmed her hands on the still burningly hot cup, shifting it angrily from one hand to the other.

"It was a sister world to the Continents. As our brothers, the Aen Seidhe, made their homes to your world, we made ours in this one. Because the realms were so similar with each other, the unicorns had habited both, before us. But what you will now learn is, your race took their evolutionary steps in ours."

She set her cup on the floor and leaned to rest her elbows on her knees, with stubborn face, watching the elf as he spoke. She had always valued knowledge but doubted the fact that this was going to be reassuring. His voice reached the lecturing sound he had when explaining things to her, low and calm. A way of speech that one could assume an old, learned elf would use.

"At first, as you could have guessed, ours was a peaceful coexistence. Because, understandably, as we are the older and so the more developed race, we let them be. But as they grew in numbers and intelligence, they wanted to make closer contact."

He kept a pause.

"We, the Aen Elle, were more reserved. We withdraw from this contact, as we saw that there would be no gain to us. But in the other hand, we had made an ally from the other race. For unicorns were intellectual and we felt a drawn to one another. So, your race wanted in on that."

Ciri lowered her eyes. Avallac'h kept sipping his tea.

"Between the Dh'oine and us, disagreements about our shared habitat turned into disorder, and what we should have predicted, disorder turned into conflicts. And conflicts turn into wars."

His voice was bitterer than she would have expected.

"With these wars raging, a commune of neutral Dh'oine left our world. And paradoxically emerged in yours. I do not know what happened in your planet, but I believe that they tried to, and succeeded to, forget. And their coexistence with Aen Seidhe was easier. Unicorns slowly disappeared from yours, but you two races, among others, survived."

He kept a longer pause, to unhurriedly finish his tea in tiny tastes. She waited, and seconds grew into minutes. Then she couldn't fight the urge any longer.

"What happened then?"

He looked at her.

"We fought. Until there was only one side to survive."

"And that was what the pile of bones was about?" She had a shadow of disbelieve in her voice.

He turned his gaze away. Someone more naïve would have thought that it was because of shame.

"It was one of the very last battles. The battle for Tir ná Lia. As our capital, it was important centre for war-time activity and logically the Dh'oine tried to capture it." As he continued, his voice had too much ease in it for her taste. "But you lost. Tremendously so."

What she was hearing befuddled her. Horsey had described the story completely altered. Or the elf was sugar-coating it. The unicorn had intensively described it as a ruthless conquer, for the elves to sweep down the Dh'oine and stolen their world. She had no reason to mistrust the magical creature with a horn, but she didn't think that Avallac'h would lie with such a confidence. And if he did, then maybe she had misjudged him. But she found it easier not to dwell in this, for it, after all, was ancient history. This was not the time for her to keep it against him, even if it still bothered her.

"So, what happened with the unicorns?"

He smiled sarcastically.

"For our relationship this was something that it couldn't pull trough. Regret filled the clan of unicorns, because they were pure creatures, and they couldn't deal with what we had caused. They had, so to say, blood on their hooves. It angered them, and that anger mutated into hate. As lovers do, we broke up."

She was quiet.

He leaned forward to capture her attention, and their eyes met in a resolving manner.

"Zireael. I trust you understand what a privilege it is for you to hear this."

She slowly nodded.

"And the reason I told you this, is that I want…" his words turned into a pause before he continued, "I need you to understand."

Focused, she eyed her tea. "So… it wasn't a one-sided slaughter."

"War, Swallow, is always a slaughter."

Oh, was she one to know it. Before her grandmother, the Queen, had thrown herself from a wall-side tower in the siege of Cintra, she had escaped the burning city with a Nilfgaardian officer. She didn't know if what he was telling her was the truth, but it surely wasn't the entire account of events. But she left space for the soothing thought that maybe it had been war, and not a pogrom where they impaled the Dh'oine on high sticks on their city-walls and laughed when they enslaved the rest. If both sides had been holding a sword, she could think that the fight had been almost fair. Almost.

They both fell silent, and it sustained like that for a good while. First it was uneasy, but when it continued, they grew used to it. So, after they had drunk their refreshments and advanced on to other tasks needed for surviving a night in the open, it was a natural one. And she had fell into deep of thought. She opened her mouth.

"Could I ask you something more?"

"What would that something be?"

"But you did have a world, a planet that you…" she searched for the words a brief moment "I mean, you too had to originally come from somewhere? Evolve from a lower life form? Your own world?"

She had a puzzled expression. This was perhaps the first time she had even stumbled on the subject. Selfish Dh'oine, when everything was about them, they were surprised to realize that other races too, had a history. He answered patiently, as he would for an ignorant child.

"As you so gracefully put it, yes, Swallow, we had a world of our own."

"What was it like?"

He lowered his eyes.

"That, I don't have the pleasure of knowing. It was a long time ago, even for us."

Something flinched in her stomach, and she felt sick. This elf may have never known true home. Her voice was dry, and she licked her lips.

"But why did you leave?"

He considered about ending the conversation, and returning to that peaceful silence, but discarded it fast. He went back to studying her.

"Because of the White Frost. Our world came… was forced to come to an end."

An owl made a peaceful sound to its brothers somewhere near them.

"Tedd Deireádh, the Time of End... The world will die amidst frost and be reborn with the new sun." He quoted the words as if she wouldn't know them already. She remembered what she had been taught about the prophecy and what it could ultimately mean for her. It, among other things, weighted down on her shoulders.

"Does this knowledge ease you?"

She fixed her eyes on the fire.

"It explains things and I guess for now, it's all I need."

Needs. They were a peculiar thing. Some of them mattered, some of them did not. Living creatures had the constant battle of which one to follow and which discard. Some needed to understand, and some would rather move forward with their life. He thought that they both fell into the first category.

"Get some sleep, Zireael. It will be a long day tomorrow."

"You're probably right." She looked up to meet his eyes again. Thank you, by the way."

"For what?"

"For the tea. It was surprisingly good."

He gave her a small smile.

"When all of this is done, Swallow, I promise that you'll get real, good tea."

She smiled widely and for a moment, he felt light.

"I'll hold on to that promise."


End file.
